It is well know in the art of cement and concrete to increase physical properties by adding reinforcing materials such as strands of wire or glass fibers. For large scale installations where strength is most important, steel rods are used to increase the strength of the concrete. The rods can either be prestresses, relaxed or tied together in an intricate pattern to improve the physical properties. However, this process is time consuming and costly.
There are other known methods of improving the strength of cement or concrete with the use of discrete elements which are mixed with the cement and upon curing improve the overall strength over non-reinforced concrete. Such elements are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,400,507, MacChesney, U.S. Pat. No. 3,616,589, Sherard, U.S. Pat. No. 3,913,295, Thompson and U.S. Pat. No. 5,145,285, Fox et al. However, such reinforcing elements do not adequately intersect for forming a matrix and therefore do not significantly improve the strength of the cured concrete.